The latest update to "Crusader Kings 3" (opens in a new tab) is a big slab of upgrades, fixes, and AI tweaks that greatly diversify the events of the Middle Ages. 1.8 "Loeb" update is free to anyone who has the game, and the new visuals Reformation and adds a lot of new symbols to custom faiths, spicing up the system around the Reformation.

But as usual, just reading the patch notes (opens in new tab) for Crusader Kings is hysterical." Disinheritance is now free for children and known bastards with disputed estates," says the note at the top of the game balance. Of course it should be. "Literalism is legitimately employed by all religions. It is good to know.

But perhaps my favorite is to reduce the frequency with which AI marries young men to old women. With apologies to the medieval cougars, "the weight of alliances and the effect of age have been balanced out."

In the developer's defense, this is not an age discrimination issue or anything, it is game balance. Players will find that their heirs will be married to half-dead pensioners with no way to carry on the bloodline. And in "Crusader Kings," if the bloodline is cut off, it's game over. Just playing the game was a matter of perseverance.

There is also one major upgrade in quality of life: "You can now always open the list of potential agents. This can be used, for example, to plan who to seduce or fabricate a hook to promote your interests."

This is a big deal for those who like to scheme and plot.

Anyway, "Crusader Kings 3" is cool; I think it's one of the best strategy games on the PC (opens in new tab).

In other headlines that can only be written recently for this kind of game, communism is too strong in Victoria 3 because, according to the designers, "we just implemented the mechanism as we understood it" (opens in new tab).